


(lack of) ball control

by misura



Category: Football Song - Matt Fishel (Song)
Genre: Closeted Character, Family Dinners, M/M, POV Third Person Limited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-07-10 03:27:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19899088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: "Didn't see you out there on the field," Johnny's dad says. He's wearing what looks like a sweater with the team's logo on it, probably because it is.





	(lack of) ball control

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lah_mrh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lah_mrh/gifts).



He kisses Johnny after the game, where no one can see. Johnny's lips taste like rain and he smells of grass and sweat, too, a little, and he waits for Johnny to push him away, to go off celebrating with the rest of the team, but instead Johnny says, "Know what, fuck 'em all, I want to take you home with me," and like a prize idiot, Matt stammers out a yes.

So now this.

"Didn't see you out there on the field," Johnny's dad says. He's wearing what looks like a sweater with the team's logo on it, probably because it is.

In some fantasy world, Matt replies, "No, sir. Don't much like football, sir. Just came to watch the game, is all, sir, because I love your son very much and one day I want to marry him, if that's all right with you, or even if it's not, really. Sir."

In reality, what he replies is, "Erk," or possibly, "Uh."

"We won without him, didn't we?" Johnny says. He sounds aggressive about it, and Matt remembers him sounding just like that, first time they kissed - _"You going to look or are you actually going to be doing something?"_. (Matt did something. Johnny did something in return. Their lives are like that now; they do things together, for each other, with each other, to each other.)

Johnny sounds most aggressive when he's nervous. He plays football like that, too, which is why everyone on the team loves him so much. They think Johnny's never scared, that anything that scares the rest of them don't scare Johnny. Matt knows it's not like that at all, that Johnny's not like that at all.

The thing is, if something scares Johnny, he goes right at it. Don't matter what it is: a football player, a whole team of football players, a boy he wants to kiss, a boy who wants to kiss him. Johnny goes right at it, and people look at him go and think that means he's scared of nothing. (And maybe it does mean that, except for when it comes to telling other people about that boy and the kissing.)

"Like that, is it?" Johnny's dad looks impressed now, like he thinks Matt is some sort of super weapon the team only puts in the field when they're losing. Matt wishes he could believe it's not because Johnny's dad does, in fact, think Matt is some sort of super weapon the team only puts in the field when they're not winning. "Well, you sure showed 'em, didn't you just. Our Johnny here's something, eh? And unlike some people, he actually got to play."

Correction: Johnny's dad knows bullshit when he smells it.

Fantasy Matt replies along the lines of, "He sure is something, your son. My boyfriend, for starters."

The real Matt shoves around his potatoes for a bit. They're good potatoes, really, inasfar as potatoes are ever anything.

Johnny's dad waits for the silence to become uncomfortable before he starts talking again. Matt considers deciding that he dislikes Johnny's dad.

"Look, Mark, you seem like a nice kid and all, but - "

("Your parents hate me," Matt told Johnny's bellybutton. It was a sexy bellybutton, the sexiest he'd ever seen. Admittedly, he hadn't seen all that many, so maybe that wasn't saying much.)

"Matt. His name's Matt, Dad, and we're dating," says the Johnny in Matt's fantasies.

("Nah," said the Johnny in Matt's memory. "They'd just rather I dated a girl, is all. A nice girl. One who won't let me touch her tits, or take off her knickers with my teeth.")

"Matt," says the Johnny in Matt's reality. He's playing with his vegetables, not his potatoes, but eh. Close enough. "His name's Matt, Da. Not Mark." The 'and we're dating is silent.

Matt blushes, like it hasn't been.

"My apologies, Matt," Johnny's dad says.

"That's all right, sir," Matt says. "We all make mistakes."

Johnny kicks him under the table. It doesn't hurt, so Matt knows Johnny's only a little bit annoyed, because if football teaches you one thing, it's how to kick. Or so he assumes.

Johnny's mom comes back from the kitchen with dessert. There are cheery candles on it, to celebrate, and it's all a bit cheesy, a little silly, because it's just a football game, nothing serious, but Matt tries to imagine that what the letters spell out is 'CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR ANNIVERSARY, MATT AND JOHNNY' (with the TT part a bit smudged, because Johnny's dad really did think Matt's name was Mark) instead of 'TWO MORE GAMES TO THE FINALS, YOU CAN DO IT'.

("Can I?" Johnny asked, sounding aggressive - so nervous, and if he were honest with himself, Matt felt kind of nervous too, because what if it was terrible, what if it sucked, what if he didn't like it, what if Johnny didn't like it, what if -)

("Dunno," he said, trying to sound as aggressive as Johnny. "Can you?" And that got the trick done, all right, because Johnny chuckled and then it turned out that the answer was 'yes', and it was pretty wonderful.)

"Suppose you'll be heading home soon," Johnny's dad says. "Getting dark already."

"Thought he might stay the night," Johnny says. "You know, like a sleep-over."

Johnny's dad chokes a little. Johnny's mom looks concerned.

Matt decides not to ask for seconds, even though the dessert's really good.

"Your parents don't like me," Matt tells his favorite mole on Johnny's back. "They don't want you screwing around with me."

"How'd you know?" Johnny sounds aggressive. Again. Matt wonders if maybe one day he's going to forget what Johnny sounds like when he's not nervous, when Johnny's fine with the world, and the world's fine with Johnny, and they can skip over the football field holding hands with the rest of the team throwing flowers or doing ballet or something. (Matt doesn't really care about the rest of the football team, but he knows Johnny does, so he tries to care a little, at least. It's not always easy.)

"Just do," Matt says.

"They'll come around," Johnny says. "I'll tell 'em I've sworn off girls for you. That should cheer them right up."

Matt thinks he should be able to tell if this is a joke. "Have you?"

"Why, haven't you?" Johnny asks, eyes all wide and innocent. "I'm hurt, Matt. Really, I am. I thought we had something special."

"I - " Matt says. He feels flustered, off-balance. Johnny grins a grin that Matt wants to think means 'I love you' even though he sometimes suspects it actually? also? means 'I want to screw around with you'. "You're an ass."

"Yeah," Johnny says. "But you love me anyway, don't you? So what's it matter?"

"It doesn't," Matt fantasizes about saying. "Thought I had better taste, is all," but that wouldn't be true, of course, because Johnny is golden and gorgeous and his, all his.


End file.
